Fulton, Menno homes destroyed by weekend fires

MENNO/FULTON -- A fire destroyed a home near Fulton shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday, only a few hours after another home was damaged by a fire in Menno.
No one was hurt in either of the fires, but both of the homes sustained significant damage.
Don Huber, a firefighter with the Alexandria Fire Department, told The Daily Republic on Sunday that the home near Fulton, located on a farm northeast of the town, had nearly burned to the ground by the time firefighters arrived.
“You could see the black smoke when we left town,” Huber said. “By the time we got there, it was totally gone.”
The home belongs to Chad Haag, at 24533 423rd Ave., Alexandria. A donation fund has been set up at Security State Bank in Alexandria, according to Alexandria Fire Chief Nick Rehorst.
Three vehicles parked near the home were also destroyed in the fire. There were a total of seven people displaced by the fire, according to a news release from the American Red Cross. Huber said no one was home when the fire started.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, according to Huber.
In Menno, a two-story home was damaged in a fire that started shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday.
Menno Fire Chief Scott Simonsen told The Daily Republic on Sunday that the flames were mostly contained to a porch on the back of the home, located at 216 S. Pearl St., but the rest of the structure sustained smoke and water damage.
Ryan Liebl, the home’s owner, was asleep inside the home when the fire started, but safely escaped after being alerted by a neighbor, Simonsen said.
Simonsen suspected the cause of the fire was related to a grill on the back side of the home, which was in use when the fire started. It was unclear, though, whether the fire was caused by the grill itself or by a nearby electrical outlet, Simonsen said.
The Menno Fire Department received assistance from the Scotland Fire Department during the response to the fire. The fire was extinguished at about 11 a.m. Saturday, but firefighters later returned to the scene to put out hot spots that flared up after the initial response, Simonsen said.